Food Act 2014

Preliminary provisions - Regulatory roles - Principles for persons with regulatory roles under this Act

16: Principles to be applied in performing functions or duties, or exercising powers, under this Act

You could also call this:

"Important rules to keep food safe for everyone to eat"

When you are in charge of making sure food is safe, you must think about some important principles. You need to make sure food is safe and suitable to eat. You also need to make sure people who sell food take responsibility for its safety.

You should try to make rules that are based on science and the level of risk. This means you think about how likely it is that something will go wrong and how bad it would be if it did. You should also try to make it easy for food businesses to follow the rules without it costing them too much money.

When you are making decisions, you need to be fair and consistent. You think about the type of food, how it is made and handled, and who will be eating it. If there is a problem, you must make sure the food is safe to eat, even if it means other things are not as important.

If you have to choose between keeping food safe and something else, you must choose to keep the food safe. This is the most important thing. You should work with others to make sure everything runs smoothly and makes sense.

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This page was last updated on 5 June 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM2996098.

Topics:

Health and wellbeing > Food and water safetyBusiness > Industry rules

15: Principles governing relationships between Minister, chief executive, and territorial authorities, or

"How the Minister, chief executive, and councils work together under the Food Act"

17: Role of Minister, or

"The Minister is in charge of keeping food safe to eat and makes important decisions about food rules."

Part 1Preliminary provisions
Regulatory roles: Principles for persons with regulatory roles under this Act

16Principles to be applied in performing functions or duties, or exercising powers, under this Act

In performing functions or duties, or exercising powers, under this Act (either individually or collectively), the Minister, the chief executive, and all territorial authorities must have regard to the following principles to the extent that they are relevant to those functions, duties, or powers:
the need to achieve the safety and suitability of food:
the need to require persons who operate food businesses or otherwise trade in food to take responsibility for the safety and suitability of food:
the need to promote standards and control mechanisms that are, as far as practicable, risk-based and science-based:
the need to minimise compliance costs for food businesses and, in particular, for food businesses that operate under a private or industry programme that achieves the purpose of this Act:
the importance of ensuring that regulatory requirements are applied consistently and fairly across sectors and groups in relation to factors such as risk, including, without limitation,—
1. the risks that are inherent in the type of food produced:
2. the risks that may arise from the processing and handling of food:
3. the intended use of the food, and whether it is intended to be consumed by vulnerable populations:
4. the scale of the operations of food businesses within the sector or group, and the extent of distribution of the food in which they trade:
the importance of providing services in a co-ordinated and coherent manner as far as practicable.

If there is a conflict in any case between the need to achieve the safety of food and any other principle in subsection (1), greater weight must be given to the need to achieve the safety of food.